1.

Systems Evolve
All systems change or evolve over time. What drives these changes?
Changes to living conditions, changing social conditions, and new
technologies all contribute to the ways systems evolve. The following
systems have changed a lot in the last few decades.

Waste Management Systems

Figure 1

People produce mountains of waste. Canadians produce about

31 million tonnes of waste each year. In the past, we just piled it up
or buried it. Today, about 67 % of our garbage is
buried in landfill sites (Figure 1). As populations
grow, and concern for the environment increases,
we recognize the need for better waste management
systems. In many countries, including Canada,
landfill is only one part of waste management.
Other parts include recycling programs, hazardous
waste drop-off depots, composting, incineration,
and public education to reduce the amount of
garbage generated.
Waste management is a major social concern.

TRY THIS: A School Litter Management System

SKILLS HANDBOOK

3.J.7.

SKILLS MENU: observing, communicating

We are often asked to think globally and act locally. Taking
action to improve your local environment is one way to begin,
and carefully examining the problem is a good place to start.
Equipment and Materials: map of school and school grounds
divided into sections; lined paper or notebook
1. Walk around your assigned section of the school. On the
school map, record each location where you find litter.
Do not pick up any litter unless given instructions by
your teacher on how to do so.

2. Record the amount and type of litter found at each location.

3. Use your data to help build a class report.
A. What type of litter was most common? Was this litter
generated from the school or the community? State
your evidence.
B. Develop plans for an in-school litter management system.
The system should include a communication plan (for
example, a poster campaign) and an action plan
(for example, a way to eliminate the litter problem).
C. How did the class work together as a social system?

Telephone Systems
Telephone systems have been around since the late 1800s, but have
undergone many changes over the past 50 years. Early telephones
(Figure 2(a)) relied on a number of physical mechanisms. These
phones had a spring-loaded hook that moved up when the handset
was lifted off the base to answer a call and moved down when the
handset was replaced. Early phones also had a circular disk called a
rotary dial.

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Sci8_UnitA_Chap1.indd 20

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Electronic touch-tone phones, in which callers pressed buttons

instead of turning dials, became widespread in the 1960s. Up until the
1980s, most telephones were connected by wires. Calls had to be made
from inside buildings or outdoor phone booths. Todays telephones
(Figure 2(b)) are smaller and mobile, and have different uses. They
are completely electronic, with few, if any, moving parts. They can
transmit sound, printed messages, photographs, and moving images
all over the world.

(a)

(b)

To learn more about the history of

telephones,
Go to Nelson Science

Figure 2 As systems evolve, do we

become more dependent on them?

Education Systems
Imagine going to Grade 9 in a school where you did not need to
attend regular classes all the time. What would it be like to be able to
learn at your own pace and to write tests when you were ready? How
would you like to have the freedom, within guidelines, to make your
own timetable? Believe it or not, schools like this exist! Mary Ward
Catholic Secondary School in Toronto is one of just two self-directed
learning schools in Ontario (Figure 3).
Changing a school system is not easy. Some social factors ease the
process, while others make it more difficult. When creating the selfdirected learning system at Mary Ward, educators, students, and the
community dealt with factors that helped the change (such as the
belief that students are more successful when they take responsibility
for their own learning) and factors that made the change difficult
(such as the belief that students should finish all courses by the end of
the traditional school year).

Figure 3 Mary Ward Catholic

Secondary School is a school for
self-directed learning in Toronto.

CHECK YOUR LEARNING

1. What are some parts (both physical and social) of a waste
management system?
2. Early waste management involved dumping garbage in
one spot and then burning it, burying it, or leaving it there.
Describe some of the social factors that caused this system
to evolve.
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Sci8_UnitA_Chap1.indd 21

3. (a) What social factors need to be addressed when a

conventional school plans to change into a school for
self-directed learning?
(b) How would you react if your school planned to change
into a school for self-directed learning? How would your
parents react?
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